Tambang Timah plans to go international

Tambang Timah plans to go international

JAKARTA (JP): The state tin mining company announced
Saturday that it will list its shares both on domestic and
international stock markets this year after quadrupling its 1994
unaudited before-tax profits to Rp 80 billion (US$36.87 million).

PT Tambang Timah's year-end report stated that the stocks to
be offered to the public will include new shares and a portion of
the ordinary shares owned by the government.

"The company has been preparing the public offering since
the board of the commissioners approved the company's plan of
selling shares," report said.

Tambang Timah is the second state company, after PT Telkom,
to prepare to follow the path of the state-owned international
telecommunication firm PT Indosat.

Indosat raised $799 million by selling 25 percent of its
ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange last October and
another $289 million by selling another 10 percent on the
domestic stock exchanges. Part of the $799 million will be used
to repay the government's World Bank and the Asian Development
Bank loans.

However, the Tambang Timah report did not specify the
portion of the shares that will be floated on either
international or local markets and what the fund will be used
for.

The report mentioned that the company is upbeat about its
future production because the company's 1994 exploration
activities were able to add to its reserves by 63,000 tons of
stannum, with an average content of 0.35 kg of tin per cubic
meter.

Find

The company expects to find new reserves of 85,000 tons of
stannum, either on-shore or off-shore, in 1995.

The production capacity of Tambang Timah has increased to
42,400 metric tons per annum after the installation of a new kiln
in its tin smelting center in Mentok, South Sumatra.

"However we will not smelt tin at maximum capacity because
we are bound to a quota," the report stated.

Indonesia's present annual tin export quota, set by the
Association of Tin Producing Countries, stands at 30,500 tons.

The company, which now produces four brands of tin ingots --
Banka low-lead tin, Banka tin, Mentok tin and Koba tin -- plans
to seek an increase in the country's quota to about 35,000 tons
per year in 1996.

Tin is also produced by private companies in Indonesia.

Tambang Timah's president, Erry Riana Hardjapamekas, told
reporters recently that Indonesia will submit a proposal on the
quota increase to the ATPC in 1995.

The association groups Australia, Bolivia, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand and Zaire.

Erry said his company sells 50 percent of its production to
Asian countries, 25 percent to Europe, 20 percent to North
America and five percent on the domestic market.

The company said it continues to strive for excellence and
efficiency by qualifying for the quality-assurance certification
of ISO-9002 series.

"We are now finalizing the process of acquiring an ISO-9002
certificate. Hopefully, we will be able to get it early 1995,"
the report said. (rid)